AP Physics Work and Power Introduction: In everyday conversation the words work and power are used to describe many activities. In physics, the term work has a precise definition - it is not merely an activity where one exerts an effort. Work is a physical quantity. The amount of work done can be calculated. Power is also a physical quantity - it is not merely a measure of one's strength, but the rate at which work is done. The purpose of this unit is to familiarize you with the physics terms work and power. Work is defined as the product of the applied force and the displacement through which an object moves in the direction of the applied force. In vector terms, work is defined as the dot product of the applied force and the displacement. Work is a scalar quantity even though force and displacement are vector quantities. The unit for work is newtonmeter or joule (rhymes with pool.). This unit will not be difficult if you pay attention to the questions asked: If the question asks how much work is done by a specific force, then use the magnitude and direction of that force and the magnitude and direction of the displacement of the object to which the force is applied. If the question asks how much work is done on an object, look at all the forces acting on the object. Keep in mind that net work is done on an object only when the object accelerates due to the net force. An applied force causing no acceleration (motion at constant velocity) means no net work is done on the object. The applied force does work on the object, but another force is also working on the object. Performance Objectives: Upon completion of the activities and readings in this unit and when asked to respond either orally or on a written test, you will: state the physical definition for work. Solve problems using the equation for work. know that the SI unit for work is a joule. recognize that work is a scalar quantity. recognize that the equation for work is not as simple as it first seems. Be able to solve problems where the force is at an angle with the displacement. Be able to solve problems where the applied force is a function of position. state the definition for power. Write the equation for power. correctly calculate power in watts and kilowatts. demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between work and energy transfer. Recognize the usefulness of the term work. Textbook Reference: Tipler Physics: Chapter 6 Pages 174, 179, 187 Glencoe Physics: Chapter 10 PSSC: Chapter 7, Sections 1 and 2. HRW Fundamentals of Physics: Chapter 7. "Work is man's great function. He is nothing, he can do nothing, he can achieve nothing, fulfill nothing without working. If you are poor -- work. If you are rich, continue working. If you are burdened with seemingly unfair responsibilities, work! If you are happy, keep right on working! Idleness gives room for doubts and fears. If disappointment comes, work! If your health is threatened -- work. When faith falters -- work! When dreams are shattered and hope seems dead -- work! Work as if your life were in peril, it really is. No matter what ails you -- work! Work faithfully -- work with faith. Work is the greatest remedy available for both mental and physical afflictions! -- James M. Cowan Questions And Problems: 1. A person applies a force of 60.0 N for a distance of 20.0 m to push a desk across a floor at a constant speed. How much work is done by the person? b) There is obviously another force acting on the desk, since the net force is zero. How much work is done by this other force? c) What is the total work done on the desk? 1200 J -1200J zero
2. A force of 60.0 N is needed to push a crate weighing 300 N at constant speed across a waxed floor. a) How much work must be done to push the crate 15 meters? b) The net force is zero since the crate moves with constant speed. There must be a friction force acting between the crate and the waxed floor. How much work is done by the friction force? c) What is the total work done on the crate? 900 J -900 J zero 3. A force of 100.0 N is needed to push a 1000-kg stalled car across an empty parking lot. Two students push the car 40.0 m. a) How much work is done by the students? 4000 J b) The car accelerates at a rate of 0.1 m/s 2. What is the net force acting on the car? 100 N c) How much total work is done on the car? 4000J 4. a) What is the weight of a 50.0 kg crate? b) To lift the crate at constant speed, a person must apply a force equal to the weight of the crate. How much work is done by the person to lift the crate 10.0 m at constant speed? c) Since there is no acceleration, the net force on the crate is zero. What other force is acting on the crate? d) How much work is done on the crate by the earth s gravitational force of attraction? e) What is the total work done on the crate? 490 N 4900 J F g -4900 J zero 5. A package weighs 35 N. A person carries the package at constant speed from the ground floor to the fifth floor of an office building, or 15 m upward. a) How much work does the person do on the package? b) How much work is done by gravity on the package? c) What is the total work done on the package? 525 J -525 J 0 6. a) What do you expect the crate in Problem 2 to do after the person stops pushing? b) What do you expect the crate in Problem 4 to do if the person no longer pushes it upward? c) Explain why your answers are the same or different. d) Friction is called a non-conservative force and gravity is called a conservative force. Do these definitions support or contradict your answer to Part c? 7. A person carries a bag of groceries weighing 100 N a horizontal distance of 50 meters. How much work is done on the groceries? floor to over his head (about 2 m). In 1957 Paul Anderson stooped beneath a reinforced wood platform, placed his hands on a short stool to brace himself, and then pushed upward on the platform with his back, lifting the platform and its load about a centimeter. On the platform were auto parts and a safe filled with lead; the composite weight of the load was 6270 lb (27,900 N)! Who - Alexeev or Anderson - did more work? 9. When lifting an irregularly shaped object, the work done is determined by using the distance the center of mass moves upward times the weight. Why does it require less work to raise one end of a log to shoulder height than to raise the whole log to the same height? 10. A force of 12i N acts on a 3.0-kg object as it moves from the origin to a point (5i + 6j)m. How much work is done by the given force during this displacement? 60 J 11. If the resultant net force acting on an object is equal to (4i + 5j) N, how much work is done on the object as it moves from (6i - 8j) m to (10i - 5j) m? 31J 12. A 1000.0 kg car travels around a horizontal circular track of radius 500.0 meters at a constant speed of 25 m/s. a) What is the magnitude of the centripetal force acting on the car? b) How much work is done by the centripetal force in one revolution around the track? Work and the Direction of the Force: In calculating work, use only the component of the force that acts in the direction of the motion. For example, if you push a lawnmower, the vertical component of the force is balanced by the upward push of the ground. The force that is doing the work is the horizontal component, F x. The work done by a force acting at some angle with the motion is the product of the force, the displacement and the cosine of the angle between them. This is completely consistent with the definition for vector dot product that you ve learned in your math class. 8. In the weight-lifting competition of the 1976 Olympics, Vasili Alexeev astounded the world by lifting a record-breaking 562 lb (2500 N) from the
13. A person applied a force of 600 N to a rope which is tied to a metal box. The rope is held at an angle of 45 with the floor while pulling the box across the floor. The box is moved a distance of 15 m at a constant speed. How much work did the person do on the box? 6364 J 14. A loaded sled weighing 800.0 N is pulled a distance of 200.0 m at constant speed. To do this, a person exerts a force of 120 N on a rope which makes an angle of 60 with the horizontal. a) How much work is done by the person on the sled? 12000 J 15. Because of friction, a force of 400 N is needed to drag a wooden crate across a floor at constant speed. The rope - tied to the crate - is held at an angle of 53 with the horizontal. a) How much tension is needed in the rope to move the crate? b) What work is done by the tension in the rope if the crate is dragged 25 m? 665 N 10,000 J 16. A cable attached to a small tractor pulls a barge at constant speed through a canal lock. The cable makes an angle of 30 with the direction in which the barge is moving and the tension in the cable is 2500 N. a) If the lock is 200.0 m long, how much work is done on the barge by the tension in the cable as it moves through the lock? 433,000 J 17. It takes 17,600 J of work to pull a loaded sled weighing 2200 N a distance of 22 m. To do this, a force of 1600 N is exerted on a rope which makes an angle with the horizontal. At what angle is the rope held? 60 this means to find the area under the forcedisplacement curve. In the next few problems, we will look at the work done on springs. 19. Sketched below is a force vs compression graph for a spring. How much work is done to compress the spring 0.3 meters? 0.45 J 20. A linear elastic spring is compressed 0.2 m. The force necessary to compress the spring is given by F = 10x. How much work is done to compress the spring? 0.2 J 21. A particle is moving along the x-axis under the action of a force that depends on the position of the particle according to the function F = 3x 2 + 4. How much work is done as the particle moves from x = 2 to x = 4 m? 64 J 22. A 10.0 kg mass moves against a retarding force that increases linearly according to the graph below. How much work is done to move the mass 3.0 m? 6.0 J 18. A sailor pulls a boat along a dock. The rope is held at an angle of 60 with the direction in which the boat is moving and pulled with a force of 250 N. How much work is done on the boat by the sailor if he pulls the boat 30.0 m? 3750 J Work And a Varying Force: Up to this point the forces applied were constant, that is the same amount of force was applied for the entire displacement. Sometimes the force applied is a function of the displacement. A good example of this is when you compress or stretch a spring the force increases with displacement. In calculus terms, the definition for work is the integral of the dot product.
23. The force-compression curve of a spring is shown in the figure below. How much work is done in compressing the spring 0.3 meters? 5.0 J 28. How much work does a 400.0 watt motor do in 5.0 minutes? 120,000 J 24. The force an ideal spring exerts on an object is given by F x = -kx, where x measures the displacement of the object from its equilibrium (x = 0) position. If k = 80 N/m, how much work is done by this force as the object moves from x = -0.4 m to x = 0.2 m? 4.8 J Power is the rate of doing work: work per unit time. Power is a scalar quantity. The SI unit of power is a watt. A watt is one joule per second. A kilowatt is 1000watts. One horsepower = 746 watts. 25. A machine produces a force of 40.0 N through a distance of 100.0 meters in 5.00 seconds. a) How much work is done? b) What is the power of the machine in watts? c) kilowatts? 4000 J 800 W 0.8 kw 26. A box that weighs 1000.0 N is lifted a distance of 20.0 m straight up by a rope and pulley system. The work is done in10 seconds. What amount of power is used in a) watts? b) kilowatts? 2000 W 2 kw 27. A hiker carries a 20.0 kg knapsack up a trail. After 30.0 minutes he is 300.0 m higher than his starting point. a) What is the weight of the knapsack? b) How much work is done by the hiker on the knapsack? c) If the hiker weighs 600.0 N, how much total work is done? d) During the 30 minutes, what is the hiker's average power in watts? e) kilowatts? 196 N 58,800 J 238,000 J 132 W 0.132 kw 29. The graph above shows force as a function of displacement. a) Calculate the work done to push an object15 meters? 81.25 J b) What is the power if this work is done in 1.46 minutes? 0.92 W 30. A loaded elevator weighs 1.2 x 10 4 N. An electric motor hoists the elevator 9.0 m in 15 s. a) How much work is done? 1.08 x 10 5 J b) What is the power in watts and in kilowatts? 7.2 x 10 3 W 7.2 kw c) What is the effective rate of work? 7.2 kw 31. A pump raises 30 liters of water per minute from a depth of100.0 m. What is the wattage expended? (A liter of water has a mass of 1.0 kg.) 490 W Instantaneous power. When the work done by a force acting on a body is a function of time, the instantaneous power can be found by taking the derivative of the function with respect to time. If force F acts on a body in the direction of the body's motion, the power can be expressed as the dot product of force times velocity. 32. A motor operates an endless conveyor belt. The motor produces a force of 500.0 N on the belt and it moves at the rate of 6.5 m/s. What is the power of the motor in kilowatts? 3.25 kw 33. A truck's engine delivers 90,000 watts of power. The truck must overcome 4500 N of force that resists the motion of the truck. What is the truck's speed? 20 m/s
34. A 200-kg crate is pulled along a level surface by an engine. The coefficient of friction between the crate and surface is 0.4. (a) How much power must the engine deliver to move the crate at a constant speed of 5 m/s? (b) How much work is done by the engine in 3 minutes? 3920 Watts 705,600 J 35. A 1500-kg car accelerates uniformly from rest to a speed of 10 m/s in 3.0 seconds. Find (a) the work done on the car in this time, (b) the average power delivered by the engine in the first 3.0 seconds, and (c) the instantaneous power delivered by the engine at t = 2.0 s. 7.5 x 10 4 J 2.50 x 10 4 W (33.5 hp) 3.33x 10 4 W (44.7 hp) 36. The resistance to motion of an automobile depends on road friction, which is almost independent of speed, and on aerodynamic drag, which is proportional to speed squared. For a 9,800 N car, the total resistant force is given by: F = 300 +1.8v 2, where F is in newtons and v is in meters per second. Calculate the instantaneous power required from the motor to accelerate the car at 0.92 m/s 2 when the speed is 72 km/hr. 38.8 kw 37. The work done by the motor of a conveyer belt changes over time due to heating and changes in internal friction. The work can be expressed as: W = 5t 2 + 4000t, where is W is in joules and t is in seconds. (a) What is the average power delivered by the motor during the first 30 minutes of operation? (b) What is the instantaneous power delivered by the motor at t = 10 minutes? 13 kw 10 kw